Why is he scared of the kitchen?

My year old Lab is really well behaved, loveable, very affectionate and does as he told all the time. For reasons unknown, for the past month he has suddenly turned very fearful of the kitchen and it seems to be getting worse. It started off him jut being timid, now he wines, shakes, ears are pinned back and he puts his tail between his legs and refuses come into the kitchen at all. We've tried sitting on the floor and giving him treats to encourage him to come into the kitchen to try and show him that its a safe place to be but he'll run out as soon as we've run out of cheese! I really dont know what to do, any suggestions?

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Was he ever abused by anyone? He could of been abused in the past. I've heard cases of where dogs are great with people, but they may see a person that looks or smells like the person they had been abused by and they go in complete panic. Maybe your kitchen looks like the kitchen of the previous owner's house? It could definitely be possible or maybe there's a certain scent or certain item that he's afraid of in the kitchen.

Here's Cesar Millan's site (The Dog Whisperer) he may have a training solution to this -

Puppies go through fear stages. It could be one of those. One suggestion is to try throw rugs. Some dogs hate slippery shiny floors and will refuse to walk on them because they slip and slide. Kind of like how you would feel on ice in slick shoes. Cover it up and see if that helps. Do not cuddle, pet or in any way respond to his fear, this only encourages the behavior.

It's likely that he is afraid of the slippery kitchen floor as the above poster stated. Some dogs don't like it because them slip and slide too much. Are his nails trimmed well? That could help as well as putting down rugs and mats for him to walk across and get used to the floor.

And I definetly would NOT recommed Ceasar Millan. You need to use POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. Millan's methods are much too harsh on dogs, expecially fearful ones. You need to take it slow. Buy a clicker and spread lots of mats or rugs in the kitchen. Click and treat whenever he comes onto a mat. Try to get him to sit and lie down on them. Then slowly over time remove the mats, one by one.